How to measure electricity usage of air con in rental?

[ivanptr]

 Hi brain trust, due to job rolocation I might only live in my house 4-5 days a month

and I plan to rent out 2 of my bedrooms. Both bedroom are installed with air con. So basically everyone will share the utility cost. 

Im worried that the tenant will just leave the air con on EVEN if they are not in the house in daytime. (I dont mind they use air con if they are actually in the house)

Any device / app I could use to measure the air con daily electricity usage for each bedroom? 

If I see the air con is on for , like, 100 hours continuously

 at least I can give the tenants a friendly reminder

[EricL]

Hello @ivanptr 

An example of an energy monitoring device is the TP-Link Tapo P110 Mini Energy Monitoring Smart Plug. This allows you to monitor how much power an appliance is using. However, before you do anything, I suggest speaking to your electrician first and asking them if this is compatible or can be used with a split aircon unit. 

There are a few energy monitoring plugs you can use that keep track of energy use. They even have apps that let you see the electrical history and energy use in real time. But it's important that they must be able to handle the electrical demands of the appliance.

Another way to keep track of energy usage is to ask your energy provider for an email of your electrical energy use for the month. From the data that they provide, you will be able to see when the aircon unit was turned on and how much power it used.

Let me call on our experienced members @MikeTNZ and @CSParnell for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[ivanptr]

Thanks for the great product recommendation ! we will show this product to electrician

On another note, our friend suggest us to disconnect the air con and only connect it if the individual tenant offers to pay more 

Is there an easy way to disconnect / reconnect these split systems without hiring electricians ?

[EricL]

Hi @ivanptr 

It is possible to disconnect the aircon unit, but your electrician must be the one to do it. If you want an easy switch, you'll need to ask your electrician to install one for you. If your aircon unit has no manual controls on the head unit, I suggest just hiding the remote in your room so that it can't be turned on. 

Eric

[MikeTNZ]

Hi @ivanptr,

What you could have done (however this will require an electrician unfortunately) is have a check meter installed in your switchboard, that will only read the power consumed by the A/C unit alone.

I hope this is of some help to you.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[CSParnell]

Apologies @EricL and @ivanptr I've been MIA.

You should be able to work out the average running cost based the the size of the unit (kw) for heat and (kw) for cold x cost @cent per kwhr I'm sure if you plugged all the data that you find on the side of the outdoor unit and your tariff rates that you get charged into ChatGPT and asked the calculated running cost based on the temperature you normally run it at and the size of the room WxLXH you will get some pretty good figures.